DETROIT —In the days since Hurricane Sandy, an alarming prediction has flashed across the Internet: Hundreds of thousands of flood-damaged vehicles will inundate the nation’s used-car market, and buyers might not be told which cars have been marred.

Not true, according to insurance-claims data reviewed by The Associated Press. The actual number of affected vehicles is far smaller, and some of those cars will be repaired and kept by their owners. The dire predictions are being spread by a company that sells vehicle title and repair histories and by the largest group representing U.S. car dealers.

They claim the number of cars damaged by Sandy could be larger than when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005 and marred more than 600,000 vehicles. But an AP analysis of claims data supplied by major insurance companies shows the number of cars reported damaged so far is a fraction of that.

The companies — State Farm, Progressive, New Jersey Manufacturers and Nationwide — have received about 31,000 car-damage claims.

“It’s not anything near what we’re talking about in the Katrina situation,” said James Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, a statewide association of more than 500 dealers.

Frank Scafidi, a spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, an insurance company group that monitors fraud and other trends, concurred, saying insurers watched by his group are logging far fewer claims than they did with Katrina.

“It doesn’t translate to there’s going to be 2, 3, 400,000 cars out of this thing just because this is such a huge geographic storm,” Scafidi said.

Other large insurers, such as Farmers, Allstate, Geico, Liberty Mutual and USAA, either did not return calls or declined to release claims information.

Because many communities are still cleaning up from the storm, more claims are bound to come in. But the total is not likely to grow significantly. Ten days after Sandy, the rate of claim submissions was already starting to slow. And many of those cars will have relatively minor damage unrelated to water, meaning they can be fixed and returned to their owners.

To be sure, flood-damaged cars can be a serious problem. Once a vehicle is dried out, the damage may not be immediately apparent, so the car can often be sold to an unsuspecting buyer.

Beneath the surface, the water can damage computers that control everything from the gas pedal to the entertainment system.

Companies such as Carfax, a Centreville, Va., provider of vehicle-history reports, stand to benefit if more buyers are worried about the risk of purchasing a flooded car. The company charges $39.99 for a single report, although it also contracts with dealers and manufacturers, so many reports cost less. About 170 million reports are viewed each year.

• Have the car inspected by a mechanic, who can put it on a lift and check the undercarriage for water damage or debris from floodwaters.

• Check the interior yourself for signs of water damage. Sniff for a musty smell. Check under the floorboard carpet for water residue, rust or water-stain marks. Look under the dashboard for dried mud or other flood residue. Check for rust on screws in the console and other areas where water wouldn’t normally be present.

• Check the trunk for moldy smells, water stains, rust or debris.

• Look under the hood for mud or grit in the alternator, behind wires and around small openings in starter motors and power steering pumps.

• Follow wires to check for signs of rust, water residue or corrosion.

• Check the undercarriage for evidence of rust or flaking metal that wouldn’t normally be on newer vehicles. Source: National Automobile Dealers Association

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